Texas Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Chicago-Area Tax Fraud Scheme

A Texas man, formerly of Chicago, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for mail fraud arising out of a scheme to fraudulently obtain tax refunds from the IRS.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately June 2010 through January 2014, Lamar “Cory” Thompson obtained the Social Security numbers of individuals in the Chicago area and persuaded them to get fingerprinted under the false pretense that they would be working for him as tax return preparers. Thompson used this personal information without the knowledge of these individuals to unlawfully obtain Electronic Filing Identification Numbers, Preparer Tax Identification Numbers and Employer Identification Numbers from the IRS for the purpose of filing fraudulent tax returns. Thompson knew the personal information would be used to prepare and file false tax returns claiming refunds in the names of other individuals and cause the IRS to issue fraudulent tax refunds. In furtherance of this scheme, Thompson caused bank accounts to be opened in the names of others and used these accounts to deposit and withdraw the fraudulently-obtained tax refunds. In total, Thompson attempted to obtain approximately $1,549,342 in fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah for the Northern District of Illinois ordered Thompson to serve three years of supervised release and to pay restitution to the United States in the amount of $908,727.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Mahana Weidler and Boris Bourget of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.